With the exodus of many senior leaders just before the state Assembly elections, the Manipur Congress seems to be acting like a drowning man grabbing at straws in a bid to survive as a viable political entity in the state. Once a formidable force and one of the last Congress bastions in the wake of the BJP wave, Manipur Congress is certainly struggling.
The most significant exit in 2017 was former minister and trouble-shooter N Biren Singh who went on to become the state's Chief Minister in a BJP-led coalition government. In the 2017 elections, the party got a limited mandate of 28 MLAs which led to BJP stealing the mandate by hastily cobbling together a coalition. Out of power, its ranks keep dwindling with many of its MLAs either openly or indirectly supporting the BJP led government, till it was left with only 13 MLAs in its kitty.
It was mainly resentment with former CM Okram Ibobi Singh’s leadership which led to Biren Singh jumping ship just before the elections in 2017. The same is still true in the case of party stalwarts like Govindas Konthoujam, Dr Chaltonlien Amo and Kh Joykishan leaving the party. But what most hurt O Ibobi was the exit of his nephew Okram Henry whose support to BJP led to gaining a Rajya Sabha seat and securing the confidence vote.
Maybe it is a tactical move. But failure to announce candidates for 6 important seats out of seven in the Imphal Municipal area while announcing its first list of 40 candidates is also being interpreted as withering of support base. In the 2017 assembly elections, the Congress won three seats while BJP and NPP won two seats each in the Imphal area.
Except for Uripok constituency, the party has not announced candidates for the crucial seats of Khurai, Wangkhei, Yaiskul, Thangmeiband, Sagolband and Keishamthong constituencies. The candidate announced for Uripok constituency is a youth leader and a lightweight, which speaks volumes. A Congress spokesperson of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee said the list with 40 names is the first list and the party will release the second list of around 12 candidates by the end of this month and subsequently a few more names.
The party is likely to field around 55 candidates in the 60 member Manipur Legislative Assembly. The spokesperson further said that the party might sacrifice a few constituencies in the largest interest of non-BJP parties.
Then comes the announcement of a pre-poll alliance with CPI, CPI(M), RSP, JD(S) and Forward Block on Thursday in the ensuing assembly elections of Manipur. They say, the pre-poll alliance was formed with the common motive of defeating the BJP. Except for CPI, the other left parties and JD(S) are non-entities in the state electoral politics. CPI had its day in the sun in the past with even five MLAs winning elections at one go. Meanwhile, the others had no representation in the state assembly so far. In 2017, CPI could not open its account. This time, CPI has named two candidates.
Concerning the overlapping of Congress candidate Kshetrimayum Kennedy Singh and CPI candidate Yengkhom Roma Devi in Kakching Assembly constituency, CPI state secretary L Sotinkumar said that the two candidates of the alliance will be contesting in a ‘friendly manner’ in Kakching Assembly constituency. For the CPI candidate RK Amusana in Khurai Assembly constituency, the alliance had decided to jointly support their lone candidate of the constituency.
The alliance had also decided to jointly support the remaining 39 candidates of Congress collectively to ensure that they win the election.
